The Air War In Operation Desert Storm (1991)

I found this animation of the air war during Operation Desert Storm, which is what the liberation of Kuwait in January 1991 was called.

What's interesting here is the incredible scale and complexity of the air campaign to suppress and destroy Iraq's air defenses that comprised thousands of anti-aircraft missile systems and guns.

To successfully execute a campaign of this magnitude requires sufficient level of training from organizations participating in it. For one thing, the pilots require enough flight hours.

This was over 30 years ago. It is likely that the same amount of damage could be inflicted by a smaller number of cutting edge aircraft today. Stealthier fifth generation multi-role fighters like the F-35 could probably get the job done more quickly. The US has 450 F-35s in service at the moment. The number in service in the world is 700.

The more F-35s there are in service the more efficiently the threat libraries improve through machine learning. By the late 2020s, the Nordic countries will be operating 143 F-35s in addition to 100+ JAS Gripens (4+ gen) operated by Sweden.